Dylan Korn: Ex-Westlake star strives to represent Rider

Nov. 6, 2007

Before taking his talents to Rider College, Dylan Korn won four Section 1 titles at Westlake. The senior has been named most outstanding diver at the MAAC championships the last two years. / Rider College Athletics

Written by

Ernie Palladino

The Journal News

Now, as he heads into his senior year on the Rider College diving team, Hawthorne's Dylan Korn wants to go national.

Go to the nationals, more specifically.

"I don't think it's a huge leap," said the 5-foot-5, 155-pound senior, who barely missed an NCAA-qualifying top-10 finish on the 3-meter board at last year's Zone meet at Rutgers. "It's just very difficult because you're going up against some of the top divers from Maine to Georgia at the Zone meet. There's a lot of big competitors there."

It's not as if Korn isn't one of those elite folks. After winning four Section 1 titles at Westlake, and twice making the all-America list, Korn has risen steadily in the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference, in which the small college at Lawrenceville, N.J., competes. He was named most outstanding diver the last two years at the MAAC championships after winning both the 1-meter and 3-meter boards, setting conference records both years on the 1-meter.

He placed second on both boards at last season's ECAC championships, which qualified him for the NCAA Zone championships.

That's where things went slightly awry. A few centimeters off-plumb on an entry, a couple of inches short on the jump can cost a diver points and places. Korn wound up 15th on the 3-meter board and 18th on the 1-meter board.

Not that it was horrible, mind you. He did well, just not well enough to qualify for the nationals.

"Dylan had a great event and he was very consistent," Rider diving coach Dennis Ceppa said at the time. "He did the best he could, but missed a couple of dives. Being one step away from the nationals, you can't afford to miss any of your dives. The first six dives determine who makes the nationals, and you can't afford to miss any of them.

"Dylan was only a few points out of 10th. At this level, diving against the very best, only one slight miss cost Dylan a top-10 finish."

If he had qualified, Korn would have joined the list of Rider divers who competed in the nationals, an honor roll that goes, uh, well, zero deep at this point.

"I don't think a Rider diver ever made the nationals," Korn said.

No they haven't. The closest was Korn, whose Zone finishes last year marked the best Zone performances ever for a Broncos male.

Now it's a matter of taking the next step. That started a couple of days ago with the season's first meet.

"To go to the NCAAs would be phenomenal," said Korn, a communications major who has interned in news, documentary and on-air content, and someday hopes to get a television job in the New York area. "I'm qualifying for harder meets now."

Korn has one last shot to make school history. But he doesn't expect his career to end there. Competitive events, and perhaps even coaching, lie in his future.

"I'd love to continue with it. There are Masters meets out there, and also a bunch of dive shows around the country," Korn said. "And I coached my summer club for two years, so there's always that possibility."

First, though, comes the last run at a spot in the NCAA championship meet in March. That would reward all the early rising at 5 a.m. for cardio training and lifting three days a week, and the 2 1/2 hours of diving six days a week that followed.

It's not unrealistic.

Reach Ernie Palladino at epalladi@lohud.com. For an archive of stories in this series, visit lohud.com/catchingup.